Manage your subscription

Science jobs separate the prunes from the plums

29 February 1992

By DAN CHARLES

Government officials who manage science and technology in the US don’t
have plum positions; those jobs are ‘prunes’. So says an American pressure
group that has published a ‘Prune Book’ describing the ’60 toughest science
and technology jobs in Washington.’

According to the book, most top positions that deal with the environment,
technology or science qualify as prunes. High on the list is the job of
running NASA, which is vacant again since Richard Truly was pushed out two
weeks ago. Truly was the sixth administrator NASA has had in the past nine
years.

The book’s author, John Trattner of the Council for Excellence in Government,
says that the book is not meant to scare people away from these jobs. Its
purpose is to persuade future presidents to fill them with qualified people.
The jobs require prune-like qualities, says Trattner: ‘Prunes are plums
with experience.’

At the end of every presidential term in the US, a book appears that
lists thousands of positions that the new president must fill by appointment.
It is called ‘The Plum Book’, and is required reading for jobseekers with
the right political connections. This inspired the Carnegie Commission on
Science, Technology, and Government to sponsor a competing book that would
draw attention to jobs requiring more than political loyalty.